U.S. patent number 5,813,015 [Application Number 08/072,826] was granted by the patent office on 1998-09-22 for method and apparatus for increasing available storage space on a computer system by disposing of data with user defined characteristics.
This patent grant is currently assigned to International Business Machine Corp.. Invention is credited to Robert A. Pascoe.
United States Patent |
5,813,015 |
Pascoe |
September 22, 1998 |
Method and apparatus for increasing available storage space on a
computer system by disposing of data with user defined
characteristics
Abstract
A scrubber object may be dropped onto a container object on a
computer system. A dialog box is opened which allows a user to
select search criteria for the disposal of files/data within the
container. After selecting the appropriate search criteria, the
present invention will search the container for items meeting the
criteria and will then display a list of those items for user
approval. The user may then accept all items in the list for
disposal, reject all items on the list for disposal, or accept some
items and reject some items on the list for disposal.
Inventors: |
Pascoe; Robert A. (Grapevine,
TX) |
Assignee: |
International Business Machine
Corp. (Armonk, NY)
|
Family
ID: |
22109982 |
Appl.
No.: |
08/072,826 |
Filed: |
June 7, 1993 |
Current U.S.
Class: |
1/1; 707/999.2;
707/E17.005; 715/764 |
Current CPC
Class: |
G06F
3/0486 (20130101); G06F 3/0608 (20130101); G06F
3/0671 (20130101); G06F 3/0652 (20130101); G06F
2206/1008 (20130101) |
Current International
Class: |
G06F
17/30 (20060101); G06F 017/00 () |
Field of
Search: |
;395/600,349
;364/514,425,570,49,419.17 ;707/200 |
References Cited
[Referenced By]
U.S. Patent Documents
Other References
Tom Petaccia, "Disktop 4.0," MacUser, vol. 6, No. 6, Jun. 1990, pp.
76-79. .
Gofer Manual, 1988 by Microlytics, Inc.,pp. 1-22..
|
Primary Examiner: Kulik; Paul V.
Attorney, Agent or Firm: Clay; A. Bruce
Claims
I claim:
1. A user initiated method of increasing available storage space on
a computer system by deletion of data from containers which contain
a plurality of documents, comprising the steps of:
selecting a scrubber container displayed on the computer system,
said scrubber container having predefined user designated criteria
for deletion;
dropping said scrubber container onto at least one other user
selected container displayed on the computer system, said at least
one other container having stored therein a plurality of
documents;
automatically searching each of said documents in said at least one
other user selected container using said predefined user designated
criteria; and
automatically deleting any of said documents matching said
predefined user designated criteria.
2. The method of claim 1, wherein said scrubber container having
predefined criteria further comprises the step of:
selecting from a predetermined criteria list.
3. A method of claim 1, further comprising the step of:
displaying a list of said any of said documents matching said user
designated criteria.
4. The method of claim 3, further comprising the step of:
modifying said list.
5. A system for increasing available storage space on a computer by
deletion of data from containers which contain a plurality of
documents, comprising:
means for selecting a scrubber container displayed on the computer,
said scrubber container having predefined user designated criteria
for deletion;
means for dropping said scrubber container onto at least one other
user selected container displayed on the computer, said container
having stored therein a plurality of documents;
means for automatically searching each of said documents in said
container using said predefined user designated criteria; and
means for automatically deleting any of said documents matching
said predefined user designated criteria.
6. The system of claim 5, wherein said scrubber container having
predefined criteria further comprises:
means for selecting from a predetermined criteria list.
7. The system of claim 5, further comprising:
means for displaying a list of said any of said documents matching
said user designated criteria.
8. The system of claim 7, further comprising:
means for modifying said list.
Description
TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates in general to computer software, and
in particular to a method and apparatus for disposal of
unwanted/outdated files.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Modern computer systems typically have an associated storage device
upon which software programs, data, etc., are stored. Since these
storage devices have a finite amount of space thereon for the
actual storage of information, it is required to "cleanup" the
storage device from time-to-time. Cleanup can occur either as a
result of the owner of the storage device knowing that some
information stored thereon is not needed, or a message provided to
the owner stating that there is insufficient space for more
information. There are computer programs known in the art which
will assist the user/operator with disposal of unwanted/outdated
information. Such programs may be either initiated automatically as
a result of insufficient storage space or called by the
user/operator. It is usually necessary to go through the
information on the storage device item-by-item and indicate what is
to be removed and what is to be maintained.
With the advent of object oriented systems, drag and drop
operations have been combined with cleanup and disposal of unwanted
information. For example, a graphical representation of a document
shredder or of a garbage can may be used. These objects allow a
user/operator to drag an unwanted file to the shredder or garbage
can and drop the file thereon. By so doing, the unwanted file is
"shredded" or "thrown out". Again, it is necessary to dispose of
files/information on an item-by-item basis. While there is a
capability to sort items (i.e., such as by the oldest date, subject
matter, etc.), it is still necessary, to manually drag and drop
each file separately onto the disposal object. Thus there is a need
for a method and apparatus that will allow a user/operator to
designate groups of information or files for disposal without the
requirement to drag and drop each item individually.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention provides a method and apparatus for
disposal/deletion of data from a computer system which
substantially eliminates or reduces problems in the prior art. The
present invention allows deletion of data from a container on the
computer system when the data matches designated criteria.
In accordance with one aspect of the present invention, a method of
deleting data from containers on a computer system is provided. A
container is first designated for the deletion of data. Then,
criteria are defined for the deletion of data in the container. A
search is automatically conducted on the data within the container
using the defined criteria. The data thus found may then be
displayed for editing or approval of deletion. The found data may
then be automatically deleted.
It is a technical advantage of the present invention in that
item-by-item checking through all the data in a container is no
longer required. By the selection/creation of search criteria, all
data meeting the criteria may be automatically deleted.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
For a more complete understanding of the present invention and the
advantages thereof, reference is now made to the Detailed
Description taken in conjunction with the attached Drawings, in
which:
FIG. 1 is a schematic illustration of a data processing system in
accordance with the present invention;
FIG. 2 is an example of a graphical representation of the present
invention;
FIG. 3 is an illustration of a search criteria dialog box in
accordance with the present invention;
FIG. 4 is an illustration of a delete list dialog box in accordance
with the present invention; and
FIG. 5 is a flow diagram of the present invention.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
Computers have become more "user friendly" due in part to the
advent of object orientation. Objects or "icons" are used to
visually represent actions that a user/operator may want to invoke.
By selecting the object with a pointer device such as a mouse, the
user can initiate the desired action in a much more simple and
logical fashion than by typing and entering some obscure command,
as required in a non-object oriented system.
Additionally, users have been provided with the ability to group
data in "file folder" or "container" objects. Thus, similar data
can be placed in the same "container" which is easily accessible to
the user with the mouse. However, when the storage space available
to the user becomes full (or at some other predefined level), the
user must decide on an item-by-item basis what is no longer needed.
A container must first be selected and the user has to individually
designate each item to be removed or individually drag and drop the
item onto a "shredder" or "trash can" object. This can be a
time-consuming and inefficient operation, especially if the user
has many different containers with many items in each.
It is an objective of the present invention to alleviate the
inefficiency of the prior art methods. By utilizing the present
invention, a user will be able to designate items to be "scrubbed"
from a container object using a predetermined criteria. Each
container may thus be "cleansed" of unnecessary data to free up
needed storage space for further operation.
Referring to FIG. 1, there is depicted a graphical representation
of a data processing system 8, which may be utilized to implement
the present invention. As may be seen, the data processing system 8
may include a plurality of networks, such as Local Area Networks
(LAN) 10 and 32, each of which preferably includes a plurality of
individual computers 12 and 30, respectively. Of course those
skilled in the art will appreciate that a plurality of Intelligent
Workstations (IWS) coupled to a host processor may be utilized for
each such network. As is common in such data processing systems,
each individual computer may be coupled to a storage device 14
and/or a printer/output device 16.
The data processing system 8 may also include multiple mainframe
computers, such as mainframe computer 18, which may be preferably
coupled to LAN 10 by means of communications link 22. The mainframe
computer 18 may also be coupled to a storage device 20 which may
serve as remote storage for LAN 10. Similarly, LAN 10 may be
coupled via communications link 24 through a subsystem control
unit/communications controller 26 and communications link 34 to a
gateway server 28. Gateway server 28 is preferably an individual
computer or IWS which serves to link LAN 32 to LAN 10.
With respect to LAN 32 and LAN 10, a plurality of documents or
resource objects may be stored within storage device 20 and
controlled by mainframe computer 18, as resource manager or library
service for the resource objects thus stored. Of course, those
skilled in the art will appreciate that mainframe computer 18 may
be located a great geographic distance from LAN 10 and, similarly,
LAN 10 may be located a substantial distance from LAN 32. For
example, LAN 32 may be located in California, while LAN 10 may be
located within Texas, and mainframe computer 18 may be located in
New York.
Referring to FIG. 2, an illustration of one possible graphical
object representation for use with the present invention is shown.
Since the method of the present invention will be used to "scrub"
or "cleanse" containers of unwanted data, the use of a scrub brush
40 to depict the action thereof is an appropriate
representation.
Referring to FIG. 3, a dialog 50 box which may be opened to scrub a
container is shown. By dragging and dropping the scrub brush 40 as
shown in FIG. 2 onto a container, the dialog box 50 would be
opened. The dialog box 50 allows a user to select and specify
criteria for "scrubbing" a file or container object. For example,
the dialog box 50 allows a user to select items in the container
for disposal by: the name of the author, a created before or
created after date, a last updated date, and/or an object
size/type. Alternatively, rather than the search categories listed
as shown in dialog box 50, a computer implemented dialog could be
conducted between the scrub brush 40 and the objects within the
container to determine what selection or search criteria may
logically exist. This criteria list would then be presented to the
user for selection. For example, a mail container object may have
attributes of "date mailed", "to", "from", "subject", and etc.,
which would create logical search criteria.
Once the search categories are selected, the user may select either
delete 60, cancel 62, or setup 64. By selecting cancel 62, the
scrubbing operation would be terminated (nothing would be disposed
of). By selecting delete 60, the container object would be searched
using the categories as selected by the user in the dialog box 50.
Upon completion of the search, a delete list 70 (see FIG. 4) would
be presented to the user. The user would then review the list of
"found" items (i.e., items meeting the search criteria selected in
dialog box 50) in the delete list 70. The user may modify the
delete list 70 by resetting any check boxes 75 associated with each
"found" item, thus giving the user final determination as to what
items are deleted. The user would then have the option to select
cancel 72 or delete 74. By selecting cancel 72, the scrubbing
process would be terminated (nothing would be disposed of). By
selecting delete 74, the items with check boxes 75 selected in the
delete list 70 are deleted from the container object.
Referring again to FIG. 3, by selecting setup 64 after having
selected the search categories in the dialog box 50, predetermined
criteria will be established for searching the container object
upon which the scrub brush 40 was dropped. For example, a scrubber
parameters object (such as, for example, a miniature version of the
scrub brush 40) could be placed within the container object for use
on a recurring basis as initial conditions for subsequent scrubbing
of that container object. Obviously, dropping the scrub brush 40
upon the container object containing a scrubber parameters object
would open the dialog box 50 with the selected categories already
filled in. A user would then be able to modify the search
categories or proceed as previously designated.
Referring to FIG. 5, a flowchart illustrating the present invention
is shown. The scrubber object (scrub brush 40) is dropped on a
container object at block 90. It is determined at decision block 92
whether or not initial conditions (scrubber parameters) have been
established. Initial conditions (scrubber parameters) are
established by selecting setup 64 in the dialog box 50 as
previously described above. If the response to decision block 92 is
no, default search criteria are loaded for display to the user. The
default search conditions are presented to the user as a dialog box
such as, for example, the dialog box 50 shown in FIG. 3. If the
response to decision block 92 is yes, the initial search conditions
(scrubber parameters) are loaded at block 96. Subsequent to block
94 or block 96, the user is asked to verify the search conditions
at block 98. It is at this time that the user may select additional
and/or alternative search criteria within the dialog box 50. At
decision block 100, it is determined whether the response to block
98 is "cancel", "delete", or "setup". If the response to decision
block 100 is "cancel", the present invention ends at 102. If the
response to decision block 100 is "setup", the initial search
conditions (i.e., scrubber parameters) are stored at block 104
followed by termination at 102. If the response to decision block
100 is "delete", a search of the container object is performed
using the search categories/criteria designated in dialog box 50
and a return list of hits (a delete list 70 as shown in FIG. 4)
occurs and is displayed at block 106. The user is asked to verify
that the "found" items in the delete list are to be deleted or not
at block 108. It is at this point that the user may modify the
delete list by changing the state of the check boxes 75 (as shown
in FIG. 4) associated with individual delete list items. The user
response is then determined at decision block 110. If the response
to decision block 110 is to "cancel" the scrubbing action, the
present invention terminates at 102. If the response to decision
block 110 is "delete", the items in the delete list 70 are deleted
at block 112.
By using the present invention, a user is able to delete unwanted
files and/or data without having to go through a list of every item
in a container. By establishing criteria for searching the
containers, the user may delete unwanted data in accordance with
the preselected criteria. Thus, the present invention provides a
method and apparatus for efficiently scrubbing or cleansing
containers to free up storage space.
Although the present invention has been particularly shown and
described with reference to a preferred embodiment, it will be
understood by those skilled in the art that various changes in form
and detail may be made without departing from the spirit and the
scope of the invention.
* * * * *